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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Goura victoria, is a large, bluish-grey pigeon with elegant blue lace-like crests, maroon breast and red iris. Both sexes are similar. It is on average 74 cm (29 in) long and weighs 2.38 kilograms (5.3 lbs). It is marginally larger than the other crowned pigeons on average and likely the largest species of pigeon of earth. One of three superficially similar species of crowned pigeons (the others being the Western Crowned Pigeon and the Southern Crowned Pigeon), the Victoria Crowned Pigeon is distributed in the lowland and swamp forests of northern New Guinea and surrounding islands. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, figs, seeds and invertebrates. The female usually lays a single white egg.

The name commemorates the British monarch, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

There are two subspecies of the Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Goura victoria victoria, the nominate race is the smaller of the two supspecies and can be found in Yapen, Biak & Supiori. Goura victoria beccarii is found on the mainland of New Guinea

Due to continuing habitat loss, being tame and easily hunted for its plumes and meat, the Victoria Crowned Pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

Haw Phra Kaew was built between 1565 and 1556, on the orders of King Setthathirath. The temple housed the Emerald Buddha figurine, which Setthathirath had brought from Chiang Mai, then the capital of Lanna, to Luang Prabang. When Vientiane was seized by Siam (now Thailand) in 1778, the figurine was taken to Thonburi and the temple was destroyed. After it was rebuilt by King Annouvong of Vientiane in the 19th century, it was again destroyed by Siamese forces when King Annouvong rebelled against Siam in an attempt to regain full independence. The revered Buddha now resides in Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok. The temple was rebuilt for a third time by the French in the 1920's, during colonization of French Indochina.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university. The University has nearly 90,000 students (including around 1,700 postgraduates) and over 4,200 members of teaching staff.

The University comprises 31 faculties, 8 research institutes, a system of university libraries and information centres, and the Belgrade University Library (Carnegie library). The faculties are clustered into five groups based on their academic characteristics.

Since its founding, the University has educated more than 330,000 bachelors, around 21,300 magisters, 29,000 specialists and 12,600 doctors.

Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha (c. 1360–1424), Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov (now a part of Borovany) in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka". From his youth, he was attached to the royal court and held the office of Chamberlain to Queen Sophia. He fought in the Battle of Grunwald (July 15, 1410), where he defended Radzyń against the Teutonic Order. Later he played a prominent role in the civil wars in Bohemia during the reign of Wenceslas IV. Žižka's tactics were unorthodox and innovative. In addition to training and equipping his army according to their abilities, he used armored wagons armed with small cannons and muskets, presaging the tank of five hundred years later.

Gwadar Port is a developing warm-water, deep-sea port situated at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan at the apex of the Arabian Sea and at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, about 460 km west of Karachi and approximately 75 km (47 mi) east of Pakistan's border with Iran. The Gwadar port is situated right next to the strategic Strait of Hormuz and its busy oil shipping lanes. Initially, the chairman of Dubai Ports World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, who met Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf on May 5, 2006, expressed a strong hope for management of facilities at the strategic Gwadar port and development of infrastructure in the southern port city and elsewhere in Pakistan. But a decision was taken not to bid, after India’s National Security Council voiced concerns about DP World’s ventures in India, alongside its plans in Pakistan, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem assured the Indians their pull-out was well considered and India need not have any security concerns. The port will now be in competition with that of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

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About Encyclobanknotes

This blog is created for educatinal purpose and informational site for all banknotes collectors around the world. Will be updating this blog as and on with various banknotes and usefull information. All banknotes scan that posted in this blog are my very own collection....collecting banknotes is my passion.